June 2014 Archives

My view is of girls learning
skills with boats and paddleboards,
learning to swim, singing new songs, hiking trails, making all sorts of crafts,
and managing bugs and spiders in their living quarters.

Last week, they had a Native American
storyteller and were spellbound by the wonderful stories. Another day, they heard a paleontologist
speak. Then there was a herpetologist from
Auburn University, who brought her frogs and toads. They knew a lot about frogs and toads
already, but she let them see their spade feet, or the bumps on their
back. They learn so much while having
fun.

One of the facets of Girl Scouts I appreciate
most is that girls can learn by doing.
They can collect bugs and create their own living environment. The things they see and experience can be
applied when they return to school in the fall. In the meantime, they have been outside
listening to birds, seeing the fish, and experiencing a lake. I've not heard one mention that she misses
the television, a cell phone, or the Internet.
Music at camp is made from nature or the girls that inhabit it. They do mention they miss their family, but
only occasionally.

We are on a learning curve with the day campers. My notion of victory here is that those
girls will want to attend resident camp next year. So far, we have had a number of them say
they do. At the end of the day as our
drivers talk to them, they discuss the fun they had. This was the first year for the day camp,
and we had some early hiccups, but I believe we have determined it is worth
offering again. We have had a number of
girls who had so much fun their first week that they returned for a
second. This is another victory.

Every day I take a photo of my new office and send it to my friends, calling it
"my office today." Every one of them
expresses jealousy because they can see from the photos the fun the girls are
having. Please check out the fun at our
Flickr.com account on line, share in the joy the girls are having in the outdoors.

One of the great things about what I do is
getting to know some of the girls we have the privilege of serving.Spending the summer at camp has provided me
with a good opportunity to meet some of the great staff we have.I spent 30 years working with college
students at a university, so I was delighted to spend some time with the summer
camp staff during their training.Since
then, I've been watching them interact with the campers, which is a beautiful
thing.

Many of these girls have gone to camp in our
council and are the product of your hard work and efforts. They are leaders. I see them teach, counsel, correct, nurture
and work with their charges. The girls,
in return, follow them around, look up to them, and find role models to
emulate. It's something I wish you
could all witness, because it proves the power of what a girl can do. And the time you invested in these girls
proves it was time well spent.

These girls laugh, sing, hike, swim, paddle, and eat with our camper girls. And I can assure you they sweat with these
girls. Last week,
I was sitting down from the rec
hall at Scoutshire,
trying to get some work done and someone I was with noticed there was a black
snake at the steps of the building. We
checked it out, and decided it was a rat snake or maybe a black racer. There was a group of Brownies just coming
out of the water from boating, so we asked them if they wanted to see the
snake. They all said they did,
so we let them walk where they could see it, but not too close. No one shrieked, ran, or did anything that
indicated they were afraid of it. The
whole interaction with the counselors, the girls, and watching the snake was
amazing. Girls in the woods who go to
camp tend to appreciate the beauty of the nature that surrounds them, soaking
in all that the great outdoors has to offer.

From
Scoutshire Woods...My office today overlooks Echo Lake, where one unit is
kayaking, another is serenading me with camp songs from the rec hall, and yet
another is out on the dock in the middle of the lake diving in.What could be better?The birds are singing; there's a bullfrog
croaking in the frog pond; the occasional cricket frog tunes up; and there's a
stunning monarch butterfly flitting near me.

This
is the first time since I've been here that I felt that I could afford the time
to be up here to enjoy summer camp. What a mistake. I come up during breakfast, check on the
girls and the staff, then come to my office on the edge of Echo Lake and turn
on my laptop. This is absolutely the
best part of what I do -- listen to girls giggle as they fall from stand up
paddle boards, probably intentionally, swim from the dock in the middle of the
lake to the swim dock for the first time, or work on camp songs that they will
remember for a lifetime.

This
week of camp has been a great one. Of
the more the 80 girls here, I have seen only one who has a serious attitude
problem. She doesn't want to do
anything. She announced to the staff
the first day she planned on not having a good time. I'm sure if you plan not to have a good
time, you won't. The rest of the girls
watched for the first half day, and then proceeded to go about trying
everything camp has to offer.

Some
days it is hysterical to watch. They
are becoming more adept at actually sweeping the dining hall after they eat
(rather than simply pushing the dust around!).
Many have tried the stand-up paddleboards, and their performance is
pretty impressive. Some who started
afraid of the water can now put their face underwater, and some can swim. What a wonderful thing. The sound of giggling comes from all parts
of camp.

I'm
very pleased with the day camp option.
This week we have only had one girl, but she arrives early and tries to
be away from her drivers at the end of the day so she won't have to leave. That is a victory. We had hoped to attract
some of those girls for resident camp to have the full experience.

This
past week I experienced the power of the Girl Scout program.I had the privilege of working with the Camp
Sunshine staff and watching the girls of Camp Sunshine learn, grow, and prosper
because of their efforts.

Laurie
Weil and Kathy Sawyer founded Camp Sunshine more than 25 years ago in
Montgomery. Its mission is to provide
an OPPORTUNITY for girls to experience the power of a wonderful summer
camp. These girls have the same dreams,
hopes, and desires that all girls possess.
But many don't have the opportunity to visit the Alabama Shakespeare
Festival or the Montgomery Museum of Art.
They certainly don't spend their summer time shooting off bottle rockets
or learning to play tennis. What fun
they had trying new things! They
even learned about bullying through modern interpretive dance.

Girls
from Camp Sunshine spend the night at Kamp Kiwanis each year. Some have never been to the woods; others
have never been swimming in a lake.
They ride the zip lines, spend the night in a tent, and ride on the
pontoon boat. This part of their
experience really moves them from their comfort zone. Many of these girls, sadly, live in areas
where playing outdoors are dangerous.
So the opportunity to experience the woods and all the outdoors has to
offer is a wonderful gift for summer.

Camp
Sunshine has provided these opportunities, and more, for thousands of girls in
the Montgomery area for over 25 years.
It continues to be a resource for the girls of the Montgomery community. More importantly, the volunteers who
generously give of their time have given girls the courage, confidence, and
character to make their world a better place.

Thanks to Laurie Weil and Kathy Sawyer for their unflagging generosity for so
long; they have changed the world.

I hope you have some fun in the sun and outdoors planned.
I certainly do! I think it will be a
great summer.

We are moving forward on the work at Camp Sid
Edmonds. The funds from the timber sale
will address the budget shortfall from a lower than anticipated cookie
sale. It is a combination of the sale
of the larger timber on the outer part of the camp and a thinning for the
interior of the camp. This should
create more trails through the woods for people and animals.

We are working to finish the sail loft at KampKiwanis. The winter was cruel with water line breaks
at every camp property at some point,
so the forward movement was curtailed with maintenance issues. We had someone in the northern part of the
state contact us to give us yet another large sailboat. We are fortunate to have such generous
individuals. At this point, I'm
considering bringing at least one of the larger sailboats down to the Mobile
area so the mariners can hone their sailing skills on the bay.

We have had Kohls
and Target staff work on our properties to clean them up for us. With 36 buildings and 36 bathhouses,
the wind and weather take their toll.
We also have alumnae who are scheduled to assist us in getting KampKiwanis
ready for resident camp, which is also a gift.

Hopefully, time with your girls and family
are a central part of your summer plans.